Getting rid of one item a day thread number 14 – where we extract precious autumn leaves, rocks and twigs from our children

[stealthninjamummy]

Well I never thought I’d still be here, on the 14th thread where a bunch of mumsnetters get rid of one item a day while we slowly declutter and reorganise our houses.

It’s autumn and some of us have commented on our children’s beloved treasures that are coming in like conkers and precious twigs that have been named. This is the thread where we focus on sneaking these things out and getting the house ready for Christmas even if we don’t know what Christmas will be like this year.

New joiners are always welcome, just get rid of one item and let us know. We’ve all different issues and challenges and it’s nice to have a friendly chat with a fellow mumsnetter.

Previous thread here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/housekeeping/4003927-Still-throwing-an-item-away-a-day-part-13?pg=1

And for 2020 some of us are also aiming to get rid of 2020 items!

@gassylady

Dropped two bags to the charity shop today after adding a few children’s books. I also put in a kids dressing gown that was very outgrown. It was one of those things hidden in plain sight hung up on the back of a bedroom door but hasn’t been worn in two years probably 🙄

I can't get past the jealousy of you having open charity shops

@KateF your job sounds challenging. How many toddlers are in the room?

Day 81: hoping to get to the 100.

Christmas clothes sorted, anything outgrown stored away for next baby, other items washed, some items being given to eldest tomorrow so they will leave the house.

Kitchen shelf decluttered. Toddler art gone and some files reorganised.

Fridge use ups and batch cooking in freezer.

footprints you’ve got rid of loads, I don’t think you’ve ever got rid of just one thing so that will be several hundred items by now.

katef that sounds exhausting working with toddlers but they must be so cute. You’re doing well to keep on with the decluttering while running after toddlers.

footprints we're not a huge nursery so have a 9 place baby room, 15 pre-toddlers, 24 toddlers and I'm not sure about pre-school, possibly 36. We are getting busier and have capacity to expand the baby room to 12 which we will after Christmas. I'm happy to work in any room but my natural affinity is with the under2s.

It is challenging work if you do it properly. I do some prep work most weekends and often catching up with learning journals and development trackers. I also read a lot around different approaches and issues such as speech development if I have a concern about I child. I find it interesting and rewarding. There's nothing like a small person climbing into your lap for a cuddle or doing something new for the first time!

3 sleepsuits sold and being picked up tomorrow. Cupboard of crap by sink emptied and long life OJ (expired 2016) disposed of and a remit of contents leading to more space. Might be able to do the same to the opposite number tomorrow (bloody corner cupboards) and empty the dresser in the lounge of it’s use once or twice a year afternoon tea set etc and put toys in it instead which was the original plan!

Mustn’t get too excited though...

We also have ridiculous amounts of red wine for a family where DH doesn’t drink at all and I rarely do...

*remit = rejig

@Weneedmusicandtheatre I'm so up for you decluttering to my house 😉😂😂
@KateF you have my respect, I only have two and that's enough

We finished making some decorations today before he got "a bit bored with this" so I decluttered the rubbish it left behind. That's it. But I'm going in the garage tomorrow...

Oops namechange fail. The small twins are the giveaway

Started on the garage about 10 days ago.
7 trips to the tip.
2 trips to the charity box with bags of stuff,
I’ve now made a grand total of £170 on eBay by selling bits & pieces.
I list 10 items and post stuff twice a week.
So so chuffed.
Can’t believe I had a treasure trove of idle cash just piled up all this time.

I have slowly tackled drawers, you know the drawers that you have stuffed with crap? Cleared out 3 of these and a cupboard.

Feels accomplished and good.
Still got mountains to get through though.

Lots going out, well done all. Busy week so not much achieved. Door to Room of Doom remains closed! Have decluttered 3 newspapers from the lounge. Happy with that for now.

Day 19

That's amazing @Pickypolly , well done!

Not many outs today for me today, a body lotion from the bathroom cupboard that doesn't smell right and the recycling. I seriously doubt I've ever actually finished a body lotion, I need to give them away as soon as they enter the house from now on.

Tomorrow's the last day before my husband is back to work so I feel I need to get loads done tomorrow (this probably won't happen)

The frog sounds like quite a challenge @IWillWearThatGlitteryWoolly - good luck!

Thank for the nice words everyone, it has been a strange few days and DH is understandably quite down now. The weather hasn’t helped - it’s been so grey and gloomy today!

I did manage to get some things done today - went through DD’s wardrobe and packed away her summer dresses so there’s more space (though that is more moving stuff around than decluttering), and I finally emptied my work bag and put it away. It’s been sitting in our bedroom since lockdown in March! My work pass and bag with essentials (hair brush, painkillers etc) have been put away in my bedside cabinet, and I discovered some paperwork that I brought home and haven’t looked at since, so that can be shredded. Can’t see us being back in the office until after the vaccine now.

Sounds like everyone is getting lots of stuff done

Thank you @thelastmullercorner. Yes we've done it ourselves. It kind of escalated from sanding and repainting the old handrail to saying it was too much work (years and years of paint) so it was easier to buy a new handrail, the the old newel posts were an odd size for the caps so we'd change the newel posts at the top and bottom and it just went from there!

Well the last few days have been pretty full on decorating wise and making sure it was ready for the carpets and Lino to be fitted. The plastering in the passage, stairs and landing looks like it's now dry so we'll need to buy floor coverings before I can paint as I'm clumsy and will spill paint everywhere

My outs over the last couple of days are:
Oven glove
Pot pourii
Coat hanger x2
Pillow
Kids face masks - charity bag
Birthday balloons
Letters shredded

@KateF you sound like a wonderful nursery worker. What's your actual job title? You sound very committed.

@Weneedmusicandtheatre arghghg hate corner cupboards.

@Pickypolly you sound like you are doing fabulously. All that money!!! How brilliant and productive.

My next plan is getting rid of cds and stereo from attic and culling Xmas stuff when the boxes come down. Think I'll get it all down today and then work through it each evening nice toddler goes to bed at 6pm.

@KateF I worked in a nursery once and apart from one girl no one wanted to be there or even liked the kids. I wish all nursery workers were like you!

I’ve put loads it girls outgrown clothes away into charity bag this week. And lots of old Xmas decorations that are really tatty to go into bin and some gold ones to pop in charity bag.

pickypolly that’s amazing work. I suspect most of us are jealous you have a skip that would let you have that many slots. In my area you still have to book and wait a couple of weeks. Luckily I have taken all the stuff I can physically carry to the skip so i only have a bag full of old wires to go. I do still need to get someone to take old doors and stuff as I can’t carry them.

thelastmullercorner I hope you’re having a productive day.

strangeaddiction I love that story of how you started painting a handrail and ended up replacing all the stair fittings. If you’d started out with that intention you’d have been too daunted but instead you’ve done an amazing job. I have now done one coat of emulsion over three quarters of the easytoreach bits of landing and I am so pleased. I don’t think I’ll replace my banisters but I might get a professional to paint them when they do the bits I can’t reach.

Today I have been putting up Xmas decorations. I am throwing a few away that dc made at school and are happy to go.

Everyone is making great pre Xmas progress! We were going to do Christmas cake this weekend, but combination of DH being under the weather and DD wanting to actually make her healthy eating menu that she had written for her homework mean it has been postponed.

Have weeded a few almost outgrown clothes from DS's drawers as a couple of people have mentioned buying him clothes for Xmas. Am hoping to actually get some stuff out to charity shops this time!

Good luck with the frog Woolly, hope it is a success!

Hope that your DH is feeling OK and ia being kind to himself Ellie. My DH was made redundant a few years ago and found it really difficult and it does take time.

Just realised autocorrect changed the word tip to skip twice each in my last post or maybe it was me not thinking. pickypolly

My next few meals will be soup made of lots of leftovers in the freezer as I’m going to do a big shop of frozen things for Xmas next week. I normally have fresh potatoes , pigs in blankets, parsnips, sprouts etc but I really want to minimise the time I’m in the shops so doing frozen this year. It’s great, normally things sit in my freezer forever but over lockdown I reorganised it and ate all the old food. I’m now in the habit of eating frozen food quickly, especially the food I’ve batch cooked.

Here you can go as often as you like but you can only take one kind of stuff.
So last week it was a boot full of cardboard, this week it’s non recyclable stuff.
No need to book either.
It’s great.

I would go as far as to say that trips to the tip have kind of saved me and helped in my recovering from my anxiety & depressive episode.

It’s been something to get up for, even a small space that clearing stuff creates fills me with happiness. The sense of achievement when I throw that stuff that will be recycled makes me feel good.
I’m so grateful for my local tip!

I've brought a few toys from the garage to the house, which I know annoys DH but we saved them for the next kids to use, so.... DS is very happy to have refound some baby toys lol. A couple of them we'll wrap for their birthdays this month - theres a limit to how many toys we actually need.

Also popped a few toys in the charity bags although they won't be open until Thursday I assume.
Have also pulled out the dolls house and figures to photograph and sell.

My garage will look much better once the charity shop stuff has gone

decluttered two outgrown school pullovers.

Did the dcs wardrobes today. I had some laundry to take upstairs to put away so while I was in ds’ room I blitzed his clothes. A lot of it has gone in a box so Dd can wear it when she grows into it. When dh puts the empty Christmas boxes back in the loft these can go up too.

I also did df’s stuff. A lot will go to charity and I’ve kept some bits for Dfriend whos due in December. She doesn’t know what she’s having so just in case I’ve kept some things.

Tomorrow is the great toy cull of 2020. The dc won’t know what’s hit them. I’ve already taken all of dds toys downstairs.

Oh no not a toy cull!!